FIRSTFRUITS AND FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Galatians 5:13-26 FEAST DAYS AND THE JEWISH LITURGICAL CALENDAR (Leviticus 23)
B. In the Old Testament there were several feast days, and some days were holier than others. Leviticus 23 gives an overview of the Jewish calendar (see also Exodus 23:14-17; 34:18-26; Deuteronomy 16:1-17; Numbers 28-29). 1. Seventh day Sabbath (v.3). 2. Passover (v.5; cf. Galatians 4:3-7) 3. Feast of Unleavened Bread (vv.6-8) 4. Feast of first fruits (vv.9-14; cf. Galatians 5:22) 5. Pentecost (vv.15-21; also called the Feast of Harvest [Exodus 23:16a]). Pentecost was celebrated 50 days after feast of firstfruits (Leviticus 23:15-16).
D. The fruit of the Spirit is rooted in the Jewish Feast of Firstfruits and Pentecost (Galatians 5:22-23). The Holy Spirit was poured out 50 days later on Pentecost (Acts 2). E. Through faith in Christ,
the life and relationships of every Christian is an ever increasing harvest
of “love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” I. THE RESURRECTION IN GALATIANS A. There is only one explicit mention of the resurrection of Jesus in the book of Galatians (Galatians 1:1). B. The other references to resurrection in Galatians have to do with our being raised with Christ through faith. C. When we trust in Jesus Christ we die to sin and we are raised to a new life of obedience (Galatians 2:19-20; 5:24-25). D. Too often we think of the resurrection as something that happened to Jesus in the past and something that will happen to us in the future. But Paul’s focus on resurrection in Galatians deals primarily with the PRESENT. 1. “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh… If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25). 2. our old self was crucified with Him… Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:6-12; cf. 2 Cor.5:14-20; Gal.2:19-20; 5:24; Col.2:11-13,20; 3:1,3,9-10). E. The reason your marriage and relationship with other Christians is loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful and gentle is because of your faith in Jesus Christ. If your marriage (or other relationships) is a war zone of immorality, strife, enmity, outbursts of anger, etc. it is because you don’t have faith in Jesus. II. RESURRECTED LIFE IS DEPICTED AS FRUITFUL A. The imagery of fruitfulness is rooted in the Garden of Eden. 1. There is a play on the words “man” (Adam) and “ground” (adamah). a. Adam (Adam) was created from adamah (ground) (Genesis 2:7) b. Adam (Adam) was to cultivate adamah (ground) (Genesis 2:5,15) c. When Adam (Adam) died he would return to the adamah (ground) from which he was created. d. adamah (ground) is Adam’s (Adam’s) cradle, adamah (ground) is Adam’s (Adam’s) work, adamah (ground) is Adam’s (Adam’s) grave (Genesis 3:17-19) 2. The Scriptures often speak of God as a “Gardener” and His people as plants, etc. (Psalm 1; 92; Isaiah 51:3; 53:1-2; 61:3,11). B. Redemption is God’s taking that which is cursed, dead and decomposed and bringing it back to new life through the death and resurrection of Jesus (cf. John 19:41; 20:15). III. THE RESURRECTION OF
JESUS, THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT AND THE FEAST OF FIRST FRUITS
1. The churches of Galatia were wrongly going back to the observance of the Jewish calendar (Galatians 4:10-11; Leviticus 23). 2. Paul argues that all of the Jewish feast days and months and years find their ultimate purpose and fulfillment in Jesus Christ who was born in the “fullness of the time” (Galatians 4:4; cf. Colossians 2:13-17). a. Jesus was crucified at the time of the Jewish Passover Feast. Paul uses Passover imagery in Galatians 4:3-5 when he talks about how we were in bondage/slavery. Jesus was born “so that He might redeem those who were under the Law…that we might receive the adoption as sons (Exodus 4:22,23)” b. In Galatians 5 Paul uses the language of Firstfruits (also Pentecost) when He discusses the “fruit of the Spirit.” “also greet the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first convert (literally first fruit) to Christ from Asia.” (Romans 16:5) “Now I urge you, brethren (you know the household of Stephanas, that they were the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints)” (1 Corinthians 16:15; cf. James 1:18) B. If we are planted by faith in the soil of Jesus Christ, then the product of our lives and relationships will not be the death and curse of immorality, sensuality, enmity, strife, drunkenness and carousing BUT RATHER love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. C. Fruitfulness involves focusing upon God’s Word and prayer (John 15:1-12). QUESTIONS FOR SABBATH
DISCUSSION & MEDITATION Take what you have learned this morning and make it
into a prayer. Pray that your faith in
Jesus would make you fruitful in your service of Jesus Christ and in your
relationship with all people. What is the holy day of the New Covenant? At which Jewish feast was Jesus crucified? During which Jewish feast was Jesus raised? Where in Galatians is the only explicit mention of
Jesus’ resurrection? Whose resurrection does Paul focus explicitly on in
Galatians? How is the fruit of the Spirit related to the Garden
of Eden? What practical ways can we focus upon Christ so that
we are more fruitful in our lives? |
